The ocean floor starts to rumble as a massive beast, with large pincers as hands, rises from the dark cave in the ground. It is a massive creature, with body armour and a loud roar that reverberates through the water. Invincible smiles, seeing the beast, excited to challenge himself again.
The creature swings its massive pincers through the water, hitting Invincible. He didn't dodge, as he wanted to experience the monster's power. He was thrown back, but didn't roll on the floor or through the water. He simply drifted backwards, keeping his eyes on the creature.
The Depth Dweller grabs Invincible with one of its massive claws and flings him backwards, smashing him on the ground. It doesn't stop its attack, though, and brings its other pincer down on Invincible in full force.
*BOOOM* *BOOOM*
Invincible is pressed further and further into the ground. As the Depth Dweller brings down its claw again, using even more of its strength than before, Invincible grabs it with his hand, stopping it from moving forward.
"..."
The monster growls as it tries to pull its massive arm backwards. But it can't since Invincible has pierced the strange material the pincers are made out of and holds it in place. He slowly starts to rise again, using his 3-dimensional flight, while continuing to hold on to that claw.
Enraged, the monster swings its other pincer horizontally and smashes into Invincible, wanting to kill him, hurt him or at least free his other hand. Not caring about the attack, Invincible pulls the pincer he holds towards him, throwing the monster off balance and making it miss its attack.
He pulls himself forward and controls himself to shoot forward, smashing into the beast.
BOOOOM
His fist impacted with the visage of the Depth Dweller and caused blood to spurt out. Invincible pulls back his fist again and punches the monster again. He can feel the resistance of the powerful hide, but smiles as he feels himself overpower it with each strike.
He rears back his fist and charges, about to shatter through the skull, when the Depth Dweller opens its large maw and begins to emit a loud shriek. Rings of energy echo outwards and slam into Invincible.
"AARGHH!!!" he shouts in pain.
He holds his head as the strange frequency of the sound assaults his vestibular system and damages his brain.
For a moment, Invincible holds his head in pain. It was a different kind of pain compared to those he was used to or had experienced. When he fought against his father, it was the usual physical pain that started outside and could rattle and damage your organs. When he fought in the Shadowverse and the darkness reality, he experienced the pain of having his spirit and soul damaged.
But this was still different, as the sound seemed very specific and targeted a weakness he didn't know he possessed. It threw off his balance and hurt him immensely.
[Talk to me, kid.] Cecil said over the earpiece.
Invincible groaned.
*BOOOOOM*
The Depth Dweller smashed its claw into Invincible, slamming him into the ground. He floated in the water for a moment, just above the ground, when the monster attacked again, hurling him through the water and into the sides of the arena.
The Atlanteans cheered as he was hurt and blood flowed from his nose.
[Mark, what's going on?] Cecil asked again.
Ignoring Cecil, Invincible turned around and pushed himself up.
[Backup is on the way--]
"No! This is my fight. Stay out of this," Invincible said and cracked his neck.
The monster roared again and brought its claw down, smashing into the ground, where Invincible stood a second earlier.
Mark shot into the air and observed the beast for a moment, as it swung its pincers through the water, roaring in anger that he had escaped. But that's where it was wrong. He wasn't fleeing at all.
A big grin appeared on Invincible's face, and he charged forward. He used the highest speed he could muster, which wasn't as fast as in space or air, since the water offered greater resistance. But he didn't care. He pushed himself as much as he could, pulled back his fist and pummeled into the Depth Dweller.
*BOOOOOMM*
Blood tickled out of the beast's mouth and into the water, which seemed to shock it as much as the Atlanteans who were watching the fight. Invincible still grinned and charged forward again. The armour had a big crack in it after that punch.
Invincible charged ahead, rearing back his fist and smashed into the Depth Dweller. His first punch impacted the stomach, forcing the monster to double over slightly. He changed direction and delivered an uppercut into the monster's mouth.
As the massive head flew backwards, Invincible flew through the water, zipping around the upper body, punching it repeatedly.
However, the monster seemed to have more experience than it let on and had started to adapt to Invincible's fighting style. Neither of them had ever fought one like the other. So both the Viltrumite and hte monster were learning as the fight passed. With impressive spatial awareness, the Depth Dweller brought its two pincers forward, smashing into Invincible, just as he was about to punch it again.
Mark pulled his arms close to his body and tanked the attack, but wasn't ready for the next thing.
Having realised that he had been affected earlier, the monster opened its mouth and once again shrieked at the top of its lungs.
The sound oscillated the water and reached Mark's ears, once again hurting him. He roared in pain, but instead of closing his eyes as one usually does when in immense pain, he managed to keep one eye open and wasn't entirely unprepared for the next attack.
Against his natural reaction, he brought his left arm up and blocked the incoming claw as it smashed into him. This removed the small dampening effect his hand had, causing him to experience even more pain. The monster had stopped shrieking for a second to attack, which gave Invincible time to counter.
He clenched his jaw and pushed himself through the water, arriving in front of the Depth Dweller in a heartbeat. But once again, before he could punch the monster, it opened its mouth and delivered an even more powerful shriek, hitting Mark at point-blank range.
Invincible felt that weakness accompany the pain for the third time and fell to the ground. He held his hands over his ears, but kept his eyes open this time. He was ready for the attack, knowing that the counterattack was his window.
Blood flowed more freely, and Mark felt like his brain was melting out of his orifices.
However, the most unexpected thing happened.
The Depth Dweller didn't attack anymore. Not physically, at least. Instead, it moved closer while continuing to shriek, its intensity increasing. With each small movement towards Invincible, the pain and damage he suffered seemed to increase exponentially. The earpiece in Mark's ear had long been destroyed. Cecil had been listening in, but now it was all silent for him and the GDA.
Invincible felt his vision grow increasingly red and dark. His mind felt like someone was doing surgery on it with a chainsaw. The blood flowed more and filled his lungs. He had been clenching his teeth so hard and hadn't noticed that he had bitten his tongue and broken his jaw.
"MMMMMhhhh...mmmmm!!!" he refused to scream, but it was too much.
He realised that this was it. He was about to die. His brain matter was breaking down, and he was bleeding out.
...
"Ha...hahaha... HAHAHAHA--*cough*"
Invincible laughed and coughed up blood and other tissue. The grin on his face grew larger and more vicious, showing two rows of white teeth.
The air around him changed immediately, alerting the monster that had arrived in front of him. He took his hands from his ears and slowly pushed himself off the ground. Using his willpower alone, he started to take heavy, slow steps forward, roaring in his mind that he would slay the beast in front of him.
The beast narrowed its eyes and moved its upper body closer, trying to hurt Mark more, but that was a mistake, as it allowed him to reach its vulnerable spot.
The barbarian reached out and managed to grab the Depth Dweller's chest armour. He pulled back his fist and punched.
*boom*
He pulled back and punched again.
*booom*
Again.
*Booom*
And again.
*BOoom*
*BOOOm*
*BOOOM*
Again and again and again, Mark punched forward, as his brain matter was quite literally melting and flowing out of his ears and nose. His grin, though, remained in place as he punched over and over and over again.
...
...
"Well? What is it?" Cecil asked from the Pentagon.
[We found him, sir. Invincible is here.]
"What's his status?" he asked.
[... oh my god...]
[What the fuck?!]
"What is it? Talk to me, damnit!" Cecil cursed.
The camera finally turned on, showing what the agents who had been sent to Atlantis were seeing.
"Holy..."
The arena where the fight had taken place was in ruins. The stands showed damage and the remains of Atlantean bodies who had been caught in the way of the battle. The Atlantean Queen was nowhere to be seen, but dozens of guards and soldiers were swimming around, trying to establish order in the chaos. The fight was over; that much was obvious.
What wasn't obvious was whether or not one or both of the combatants had died.
The Depth Dweller had his chest caved in, and its entire upper body, blood, lungs, heart and brain were floating in the water. Invincible had gone to town on that beast and ripped it apart. It looked gruesome, entirely so. Unlike the fight that Omni-Man and Invincible had had.
Invincible had most of his suit ripped off; blood floated around him in the water along with other tissue, making it hard to tell where his suit ended and the beast's began. He was hurt; that much was obvious, but the wounds were clearly mostly internal. And yet, there was an eerie grin on his broken face that seemed to have survived the onslaught.
"Hughh..." someone gagged in the room.
Cecil couldn't even fault them. What he was seeing was bad.
"Is he alive?" he asked.
[We're not sure. It's hard to get a pulse. We have to load him up and get him to a hospital as fast as possible.]
"Do it and get a move on. God knows what Debbie will say when I tell her about this."
"Should I inform Debbie, sir?" Donald asked.
"No."
"Sir?"
Cecil closed his eyes for a moment. He should have been shocked and worried. And in a way, he was. But not as much as one might have expected. He looked at the woman sitting on the computer next to him.
"Pull up the audio from that fight."
They started to hear the grunting and punching sounds of the Depth Dweller and Invincible. Cecil had his hands in his pockets, and his eyes closed as he listened very closely to everything. They hadn't seen the fight, but the audio told them most of what they needed to know. Donald glanced at Cecil as they reached the moment when a strange sound could be heard, which was followed by Mark's shouts.
He knew his boss well; Donald knew what Cecil wanted.
"Get it to the boys in RD. I want a report in a week," Cecil said.
"Yes, sir."
Cecil furrowed his brows. This was it; this might have been what he had been waiting for. He had never heard Omni-Man scream, and he hadn't ever heard him scream in pain as he had just heard Mark scream. Whatever happened had to have been truly painful. And what's more, it didn't seem to be harmful to humans, since they had just listened to the sound and didn't feel anything.
If that was so...
Possibilities settled in Cecil's mind. He couldn't lie to himself. He had absolutely no control over Mark, just like he hadn't had any control over Omni-Man. But now? Now there might be a way to change that, to ensure that there wouldn't be another Omni-Man.